A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to surety systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods that bond information and services provided in a transaction.
B. Description of Related Art
Electronic commerce (xe2x80x9ceCommercexe2x80x9d) has dramatically increased in recent years. In some conventional eCommerce systems, transactions occur over a network, such as the Internet, using protocols or mechanisms, such as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http://). A user may access a web site, or the like, of a server to seek out or research information, purchase, or research goods and/or services, and communicate with other users, web sites, or services.
In other conventional eCommerce systems, a growing number of transactions are performed across intranets and internets, such as the Internet, by protocols or mechanisms other than the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http://). Such non-http-based transactions use a myriad of different protocols and languages to encode the information, including Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Extensible Markup Language (XML) send and receive, Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), etc. Furthermore, transactions such as these use transport mechanisms with protocols other than, or built upon, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), such as Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC), Internet Protocol Version 6 (Ipv6), Secure Sockets Layer(SSL), etc. Also, these non-Web-based transactions can occur as a result of interconnections between systems through a common language specified by a metalanguage (e.g., specified by XML) or through direct binary communication between systems (e.g., via Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), or other distributed object, procedural, or client-server architectures).
Uncertainties exist, however, in almost any conventional eCommerce transaction, such as the uncertainty of whether certain services and information will be provided as promised. With the vast amount of services and information available on the Internet, for example, users have no way to determine whether services will be performed as promised or whether provided information is accurate and valid.
As a result, a need exists for a mechanism to guarantee the performance of services and the accuracy and validity of information presented as part of an eCommerce transaction.
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention address this need by providing to participating servers a mechanism for supplying a guarantee to their customers, under a surety bond issued by a bona fide, financially competent bonding institution (or xe2x80x9cbonding agentxe2x80x9d), that certain services will be provided and that information provided by the server is accurate and valid.
In accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, a system assures the accuracy of information and the performance of services. The system receives a request from an entity to bond the information and services corresponding to the entity and evaluates the accuracy of the information and the performance of the services. The system bonds the information when the information is determined to be accurate and the services when performance of the services is assured.
In another implementation consistent with the present invention, a method assures the accuracy of information and the performance of services provided by an entity. The method includes receiving a request from the entity to bond the information and the services provided by the entity; receiving a warranty from the entity, the warranty indicating to the bonding agent that the information is accurate or that the service performance is guaranteed; and bonding the information based on the warranty when the warranty indicates that the information is accurate and the services based on the warranty when the warranty indicates that the service performance is guaranteed.
In yet another implementation consistent with the present invention, a system guarantees the accuracy of a group of data and the performance of a series of services provided by an entity over a period of time. The system receives a request from the entity to bond the group of data and the series of services provided by the entity over the time period and analyzes the accuracy of the group of data and the performance of the series of services. The system bonds the group of data when the data is determined to be accurate and the series of services when performance of the series of services is assured.
In a further implementation consistent with the present invention, a method guarantees the accuracy or validity of information provided by an entity. The method includes analyzing a request from the entity to bond information provided by the entity; determining whether the information is accurate or valid; and assigning a bond to the information when the information is determined to be accurate or valid. The bond identifies an amount of indemnity to be paid when the information is later found to be inaccurate or invalid.
In another implementation consistent with the present invention, a method guarantees the performance of a service offered by an entity. The method includes analyzing a request from the entity to bond performance of the service offered by the entity; determining whether performance of the service is assured; and assigning a bond to the performance of the service when the performance of the service is determined to be assured. The bond identifies an amount of indemnity to be paid when the service is performed in a manner other than as offered.